Keywords

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Synonyms

Instil confidence; Self-enhancement

Definition

It is important to be clear on the meaning of projected confidence and how it differs from self-confidence. Self-confidence is personal assuredness in one’s own ability or judgment. Projected confidence is the ability to ingrain that confidence onto others; in other words, have others believe in your competence.

Introduction

Following from the previous chapter, this entry focuses on how individuals may use manipulative communication with others via projected confidence in order to protect or enhance their self-esteem. It will also demonstrate how the specific personality construct, narcissism, may accentuate this from an evolutionary perspective.

Self-Enhancement

It could be argued that self-enhancement is the root of projecting confidence onto others. Self-enhancement involves a self-directed effort by an individual to increase the positivity of their public image (Wallace 2011). The personality construct that is most well known for chronic self-enhancement is narcissism. In accordance with the three key evolutionary perspectives discussed in the previous chapter (“Self-Esteem as Manipulative Status Communication”), narcissists’ self-esteem is fragile and therefore, their continual self-enhancement is to preserve and protect it (Morf and Rhodewalt 2001).

It is believed that narcissism has evolved in accord with promiscuous mating strategies, or short-term mating, and that it has persisted through specific characteristics related to self-enhancement such as attractiveness and coercive tendencies (Holtzman and Strube 2011).

Attractiveness

Research has found that narcissism is associated with higher observer-rated physical attractiveness (Holtzman and Strube 2010). This is due to the types of behavior narcissists present and how they project this onto others. For example, the attention seeking style of behavior narcissists present may stimulate sexual desire among potential short-term mates. Holtzman et al. (2010) found that narcissists use more sexual words in everyday life, and importantly, this remained the case after excluding those swear words which have a sexual connotation. It seems that in relation to sexual language, narcissists are able to project this type of confidence on to others and that may be one explanation as to why others find them attractive. This is one example as to how a narcissistic individual has a higher chance of attracting a short-term mate. Another example is the exhibitionism they present, a core trait of narcissism. Research has found that narcissists take extra care in their appearance such as wearing expensive clothing (e.g., Back et al. 2010) and females in particular focus on their sexual appearance such as wearing make-up (Vazire et al. 2008). Again, narcissists can project confidence, via exhibitionism, onto others which contributes to their chances of finding a short-term mate.

Coercion

Narcissism in both males and females has been found to be significantly related to sexually coercive strategies (e.g., Blinkhorn et al. 2015). It is believed that narcissists’ characteristics such as game-playing love styles (Campbell et al. 2002), musculature (Vazire et al. 2008), and disagreeableness (Paulhus 2001) all enhance their chances of successfully coercing another. Displaying this type of behavior is another way in which narcissists can project their confidence onto others. From an evolutionary perspective, it could be suggested that many years ago, narcissists who were less coercive had more difficulty reproducing (Holtzman and Strube 2011), and therefore, this trait has strengthened and evolved to facilitate higher chances of finding a short-term mate.

Conclusion

The personality construct, narcissism, is characterized by self-enhancing types of behaviors such as attractiveness and sexual coercion, in order to project confidence onto others. These behaviors are examples of manipulative communication with others in order to protect or enhance self-esteem. From an evolutionary perspective, it can be argued that narcissistic traits have adapted in order to increase the likeliness of short-term mating. The following chapter will discuss how narcissistic individuals may also manipulate others by the “Derogation of Rivals.”

Cross-References